Wish I could take time back...

If you are counting yourself out of the youth pool at 31, you are going to have a really long life as an 'old' person. And annoy a bunch of 40 somethings in the process, too, lol. 

I had my surgery at 45 and trust me, I have had a LOT of positive things happen. Do I wish I had done this younger? For sure. But youth is still on my side as far as I am concerned, even if my 18 year old did remind me that I am smack dab in middle age if I expect to live to be 90 (which I do not even want to do). :)

This surgery is NOT a magic solution for all that ails folks, but hopefully you will find that you are better equipped to handle what life throws at you and are able to recover more quickly from things than you would have at your heaviest weight.

Your spine has less stress, but it isn't going to reverse stenosis to be thin or fix discs. Surely you did not think that was going to be solved with this, did you? If so, you might want to sit down with a therapist and talk through strategies to help you cope with health/diagnosis realties. I see a therapist for other issues and I am a big fan of therapy. I think most people can use it for one thing or another. Just a thought! :)

Wishing you good news and a treatment plan at the cardiologist!!

No I was not counting myself out of the youth pool at 31.. LOL. What I was trying to say is that I WISH I was more health conscientious in my twenties. As well as thinking I could out run any consequences my bad lifestyle choices made in the years past. If you did read in my top paragraph, I did state that I feel blessed that I had this done and am losing weight and becoming healthier.. I do have positive aspects from this surgery..  

I am no longer classified as diabetic, so I am no longer on insulin. I no longer use a cpap machine. I can walk better then I did, breathe better then I did, so on and so forth.. And I do have youth on my side as well, BUT I have an extensive family history of people dying from heart problems at young ages. So this scares me!

I did realize that this surgery was not a magic cure-all for everything. I just thought naively that the problems it would not be able to correct would be not as severe. As for the back problems, no I did not think that this surgery would correct that. My Spinal Doctor came out and said that the weight loss would alleviate the stress of of it, but it would not go away. The damage is done. Actually, like he told me, Spinal Stenosis is actually usually a middle aged persons disease. And it usually does get worse, and a lot of times puts people into wheel chairs.

So, as such, one of the many reasons to have this surgery done was to help alleviate some of the stress off of my spine. As for therapy, I wholeheartedly agree! I think therapists can help us look at different angles, and aspects that we could not by ourselves. Thank you for your response, I appreciate it. I just had to clear up some of your misconceptions.

Oh good--I am glad you clarified! :)

And glad you are seeing some great benefits and hopefully delaying the impact of the spinal stenosis!

Thank you!

I had RNY at 60 and within 3 weeks, was able to cut my heart meds by 1/2 and expect to discontinue most of them over the next year.  The past is done and over with, but we are never to late to change. Count yourself very lucky to have realized the value of being mindful of your health at just 31.

You are going to have so much fun being the new you!

My feeling is you get a free ride until you hit 30 and then everything catches up to you.  So it is best to behave in your twenties, be a normal healthy weight and eat as clean as possible, then there will be less to clean up after when you get older.  I was MO for twenty years the toll on my body is irreversable, the arthritis is debilitating, it makes me want to cry at times.  I am trying hard to live without any drugs in my body, eating the best I can to try to reduce the inflamation, but still some days suck.

I am sorry your health is compromised, I wish you all the best, sadly we had to learn this the hard way.

I could not agree more! My SO and I were just talking the other day about this! I had a few "minor' things when I got with him at 26. When I turned 30 (and I mean the first week!), it seemed as if my health took a nosedive! Within that year I had 10 procedures/surgeries in relation to my obesity. MANY health issues and complications!

My SO did not have ANY health issues what so ever either, and he turned 30 and now has Gout, Diabetes, and High Cholesterol!

That is why I try teaching our children healthy habits now. I absolutely do NOT want them to go down the same road as their parents have. And so far I would say we are doing great! My son was becoming VERY overweight, his BMI was classified as obese. Since undertaking this journey, he has lost over 20 pounds! and is now in a normal BMI range. My SO has lost almost 30 pounds himself! Our daughters are so far lucky in the healthy department! LOL

You are correct, we did have to learn this the hard way. And if I can help someone else learn from my mistakes so they do not have to learn the hard way, I will do so! I wish you the best of luck with your health issues! You are on the right path so far! I know arthritis is a disease that is so hard to deal with as I have seen close friends and family deal with it on a daily basis.. I will say a prayer for you!